Wednesday, September 29, 2010

As librarians celebrate intellectual freedom during Banned Books Week, it is important that they also celebrate their right to boldly and unapologetically ban terrible books from their library's shelves. (Yes, I am talking about you, Harlequin Romance's Stories Set in the World of Nascar.)

Ask the readers: What books do you think should be banned from your library?

I work at a library in a small town in Mississippi. If I banned all the books about Nascar my circulation would drop to zero. If I had my choice...all the books with intentional misspellings in the title. The "Nauti" series drives me nuts.

I wouldn't ban any book, ever. Even if they ARE stupid (I'm looking at you, Harlequin). Because even though I don't like them, obviously there is someone who does. Not only would I not like to take the pleasure out of reading for ANYone, I also think that book banning is a seriously slippery slope. It's better to just not even start. Sorry to be all downer...I can't even ban stupid books in jest! :)

I wouldn't ban a book. EVER. Not even true garbage (coughTwilightcough), or wierd, disturbing stuff (like Mein Kampf). I might, at one point, decide that a certain book doesn't support the mission of my library, but I wouldn't ban it. Just because I don't like the book doesn't mean I have the right to impose my tastes on anyone else.

Not really banned, since I hope no honest taxpayer dollars have been sent to the guy, but let's get donations of copies of all of Kevin Trudeau's books which our hopeful customers have purchased and had their hopes crushed after opening the covers, have a tidy bonfire, and roast some nice marshmallows.

I don't want to BAN the books, so much as I want to use "suggestive selling" to convince people to check out different books. Like "Twilight"? Why not try ANYTHING ELSE instead? Like Danielle Steel? How about you stop reading the same book over and over?